Iraq: security forces claim more than 50 ISIL deaths

BAGHDAD – Iraqi security forces are claiming to have killed more than 50 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in clashes over the last 24 hours across the country.

“Iraqi army forces killed 30 ISIL militants in ground offensive operations ... in al-Na’imiya south of Fallujah, Albo Hadid, al-Nasser and al-Maared areas east of Fallujah in Anbar province,” General Major Kasem al-Mohammadi, operations’ chief of Anbar province, told AA on Tuesday.

Fallujah is now besieged by Iraqi security forces, according al-Mohammadi.

In the eastern province of Diyala, the Iraqi security forces backed by al-Hash al-Shaabi – a Shiite militia – killed 21 ISIL militants in the Hamrin Mountains, according to General Abdul-Amir Al-Zaydi, operations chief of Dejla.

The capture of Mosul in June 2014 was ISIL's breakout move to seize large swathes of land across Iraq and Syria.